In the past, to diagnose arterioscleosis, to perform diagnosis before a surgical operation or confirm a result after a surgical operation at the time of medical treatment inside a blood vessel by a highly-functional catheter such as a balloon catheter, a stent or the like, there has been utilized an imaging apparatus for diagnosis such as an intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) diagnostic apparatus, an optical coherent tomography (OCT) apparatus, an optical frequency domain imaging (OFDI) apparatus utilizing wavelength sweep, which is an improved type thereof, and the like (hereinafter, in this specification, the optical coherent tomography (OCT) apparatus and the optical frequency domain imaging (OFDI) apparatus utilizing wavelength sweep are referred to generically as “optical imaging apparatus for diagnosis”).
In the optical imaging apparatus for diagnosis, an optical probe unit, into which an imaging core mounted with an optical lens and an optical mirror (transmitting and receiving unit) at the distal end of an optical fiber is positioned, is inserted inside a blood vessel, a measurement light is emitted into the inside of the blood vessel from the transmitting and receiving unit at the distal end while rotating the imaging core and concurrently, a radial scan inside the blood vessel is carried out by light-receiving a reflected light from a biological tissue. Then, based on the interference light generated by making the light-received reflected light and the reference light interfere, a cross-sectional image of the blood vessel is visualized.
Here, for the radial scan of the imaging core, there is utilized a motor drive apparatus referred to generally as a scanner & pull-back unit. The scanner & pull-back unit is constituted by a scanner unit and a pull-back unit, and the optical probe unit is freely detachably mounted on the scanner unit.
Then, for the scanner & pull-back unit mounted with the optical probe, various kinds of settings are carried out in an operating room or the like and thereafter, the unit is used under the condition of being covered by a unit cover (sterilization cover) and being moved to the vicinity of the patient.
In other words, in the inside of the operating room or the like, it is assumed for the scanner & pull-back unit to make the user (doctor, technologist, nurse or the like) move to a predetermined position if required, back away from the predetermined position and so on. Consequently, it is desirable for the scanner & pull-back unit to have a convenient shape to be carried. In particular, since the carrying of the scanner & pull-back unit is performed in a state of being covered by a unit cover, it is desirable for the unit to have a shape easily carried even in such a state.
In addition, from the fact that it is necessary to deal with a plurality of works during a short period inside the operating room, it is desirable, on an occasion of carrying the scanner & pull-back unit, that there are assumed not only a case in which the user carries out the unit by both hands but also a case in which the user carries out the unit by a single hand.